From night into day in Chile at the San Jose Mine
By JERRY TALLMER
It was when Sebastian Pinera, the president of Chile, reflexively crossed himself a little before last Wednesday midnight — as he, and a solemn little boy in a miner’s hardhat, and the whole rest of the world were sweating out the safe return of a capsule lifting the first of 33 trapped human beings, 31-year-old Florencio Avalosa, the little boy’s father, from a sealed-in cave 2,040 feet below the earth’s surface — that I, too, observant of no organized hocus-pocus, secretly crossed myself. And was rewarded when a grinning Florencio Avalosa, wearing protective sunglasses beneath his miner’s hardhat, stepped from the capsule, alive and well.

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Photo by Jefferson Siegel

David Troncoso, holding Bella, and Susan Schwartz, holding Josie, in the Mercer-Houston Dog Run, like the dog run’s other hundreds of users, are concerned about its future in N.Y.U.’s expansion plans.

University has to respect ‘Green Line,’ neighbors say
By Albert Amateau
The public open spaces around the superblocks that New York University intends to develop in the next couple of decades are treasured by the community because they include parks, gardens, playgrounds and a dog run.

Bicycle-lane foe doesn’t get much traction at demo
By Lincoln Anderson
More supporters of bike lanes than critics of them turned up last Friday afternoon at an East Village rally intended to decry the new, protected pathways along First and Second Aves.

Temple rehab aimed for stars and, 25 years later, pulls if off
By Aline Reynolds
The restoration of the Museum and Synagogue at Eldridge Street is finally complete. The installation of a large stained-glass window earlier this month on the synagogue’s eastern wall marked the end of the building’s quarter-century-long overhaul.

Robert Nichols, 91, led Wash. Sq. ’69 renovation
By Albert Amateau
Robert B. Nichols, poet, playwright, novelist and the lead architect of the 1969 redesign of Washington Square Park, died Thurs., Oct. 14, in his home in Thetford, Vermont, at the age of 91.

‘East Village Blue’ are honored
By Albert Amateau
The Ninth Precinct Community Council honored 36 officers at its annual awards event last week at the Cooper Union Foundation Building.

Hate-crime wave continues: Thug targeted gay bars
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
A 45-year-old Queens man has been charged in two attacks, just 10 minutes apart, in two West Village gay bars, the second and third such incidents in Village gay establishments in the past two weeks.

My Night in a Haunted (Merchant’s) House
BY SCOTT STIFFLER
A skeptical reporter, hot on the heels of a sensational exclusive, accompanies a team of ghost hunters as they investigate a spooky old house that’s been the site of numerous encounters with apparitions, floating orbs and flying objects.

Our 2010 Community Handbooks are a great resource and guide for life in New York City. This year we are featuring 20 of our favorite books about our favorite city. Print editions are available beginning the week of July 5, 2010. View it online now.